Hidden Bonds Can't Be Denied
by bodysurfer27
Summary: Discussing next Isle Transfers, family becomes a shocking topic. Auradonians stuck in the past, come to terms with rules that aren't meant to last. Not everyone is exactly as they seem, relationships are made & some maybe broken. OCs belong to pinksakura271 and Bal-Breelice09121994


**A/N:** **This fandom has been an utter joy to write for. You are all so supportive and kind. Thank you for all your love and support with my other Descendants fics. Your reviews/favorites/follows warm my heart and keep encouraging me to come back and write up something new for this fandom. Those one-shots were definitely fun to write and fun to work with other talented authors. This one-shot is co-written with pinksakura271.**

 **pinksakura271:** **It has been so much fun working with you on this. I have always wanted to write an OC for this fandom but never had the time/inspiration. Thank you for letting me borrow your beloved Amy. She will forever hold a special piece of my heart. You have done a wonderful job creating her and I hope what I have written does her justice.**

 **Bal-Breelice09121994:** **Thank you for giving me permission to use your beloved Henry. He is a wonderful character and I enjoyed learning more about him.**

 ***I totally forgot to put a Disclaimer so here it is: I do not own anything in this story at all. All ideas/storylines/characters/settings/places/names are not mine. I only own my imagination.**

 ****pinksakura271 and I have decided to turn this into a multi-chaptered fic. We have changed Chapter 1 because of this, so please re-read this chapter before reading Chapter 2.**

* * *

Tapping.

Soft tapping noises echoed through the silent room. A wooden pencil tapped against the wooden table absentmindedly, the holder of the pencil lost in thought.

Blue curls bounced against the bright sky blue corset of the dress. A lavish and heavy fake diamond necklace rested on the collarbone. A silver tiara held stray blue curls from a round and soft face. Cheeks dusted in pink highlighted a slender nose and porcelain skin. Warm honey chocolate brown eyes were framed by thick voluminous lashes coated in a dark black mascara. Perfectly groomed eyebrows were scrunched together and parted lips that shamed the red red rose showed the hint of a bubblegum tongue and white teeth behind them.

Underneath the tapping pencil rested a piece of paper. A list of possible villain children to make their journey to the other side of the barrier. To make their way to Auradon. The land of infinite possibilities. The land where anyone can be anything.

Twenty minutes had gone by between the writing of the two beautiful black inked calligraphic names and the tapping of the pencil on paper as Evie struggled to come up with a solid reason any other villain children deserved to be here. The only two worthy of Auradon were the only two names written down so far: Dizzy and Gil.

So lost in her thoughts, she had ignored the gentle rapping on the door and the soft calling of her name from behind it. It wasn't until the door had opened and the King himself began to speak was she even aware of her surroundings.

"Hey, Evie." The blue haired girl jumped, dropping her pencil. The wooden object clattered on top of the wooden table, the faraway glaze in her eyes disappearing and twisting into a hint of fear as her wide brown eyes snapped over her shoulder at the intruder.

Her expression fell into a gentle relieved smile at the sight of Ben causally leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed over his chest and his body tilted to one side like he's done hundreds of times before when waiting for Mal to finish getting ready for her date.

"Hi, Ben." She smiled, her pearly white teeth on full display.

"You're still working on the list, right? After what I saw on the Isle, we need to start getting more kids off that Isle of Leftovers."

Evie giggled at his use of the Isle's nickname (more like Mal's favorite phrase when describing the Isle) and nodded her head. Her blue curls bounced with the movement and she turned her head back to the piece of paper in front of her. She picked up her pencil and moved it to the side of the piece of paper, leaving it untouched for now.

"I see Mal's starting to rub off on you." She mused with another soft shake of her head, her eyes rolling without him noticing.

"Oh? How so?" His eyes dropped to his dark wash jeans and blue leather jacket Evie insisted he wear on the Isle. His dark navy jeans held no rips or tears from what he could see and his leather jacket only held the intentional stains Evie had painted when she created the jacket in the first place.

"Casual suits you. It's almost like you're a whole different person now."

Ben straightened his posture, his ears perking at her compliment. His arms dropped to his sides, almost like he was proud to accomplish some hidden message between the two (former) villain girls. He puffed out his chest and a small smirk twisted his lips upwards into a devilish grin.

"Yeah?"

"Oh, yeah. I'm pretty sure you're starting to fit in with us now." She turned her head over her shoulder again, a smile on her face at his relaxed posture.

"What can I say? Mal's influential. A fashion icon according to those reporters. I'm just doing my best to look like we belong together."

"If that's your way of asking for more clothes, you could've just said so." She winked, causing him to chuckle.

"Alright, I'll keep that in mind. I'm sure Mal would love it if I owned more leather." After another chuckle, he cleared his throat and straightened his shoulders. "So, back to the list."

She jerked her head towards the table and he took it as the familiar nonverbal sign to approach her. He crossed the room in a familiar pace before he placed his hand on the table next to hers and leaned over Evie's shoulder. His eyes studied the very small list of names.

"Obviously Dizzy's name is first. Alphabetical and because she would be the one to thrive here the most. Not saying the others won't but I know she'll appreciate being here more and she'll be the one to acclimate easier and it'll be better since she knows us the best." Evie began to ramble, heat flooding her pink cheeks and turning them a shade darker in embarrassment. "And Gil...I know he's part of Uma's crew but he's been through a lot and Harry and Uma can't take care of him forever you know? And he's just too good for the Isle. Not to mention he's not very bright but he makes up for it with his cheerful and optimistic personality and he'd be the least likely to cause trouble. Not that Dizzy won't cause trouble but he'd have an easier time adjusting to the rules and he won't be an emotional mess. Not saying Dizzy will be but-" He moved his hand to cover hers. Her eyes snapped up to his, his warm and gentle expression soothing her nerves.

"Evie, breathe. I trust your judgement here. The only reason I'm looking over it is to familiarize myself with their names so when I send off the signature I'll know who to look for. The rest of this is all you. You're the one who makes the final decisions."

The bluenette nodded, her eyes dropping back to the names on the list. She swallowed before moving her hand out from under his. She picked up the pencil and her fingers trembled as she hesitated writing down another name on the list.

Her lips mouthed a name Ben can't quite make out, even with his enhanced vision and he placed his hand on her shoulder. He squeezed her shoulder gently before removing his hand and leaning back to stand behind her.

"Why don't I check on the list again tomorrow? Give you a few more hours to think up another name to add to the list." He doesn't wait for a response.

Ben turned on his heel, fully prepared to leave when his eyes landed on Mal's sketchbook lying open on top of the frilly pink covers of her bed. With a tilt of his head, he walked over to the edge of her bed then picked up the heavy pad of paper.

On the left was a portrait drawing of him done completely in pencil. His navy blue beanie he wore to the Isle of the Lost day snugly on his head. The shading on his face revealed such detail and a heartbroken expression morphed his facial features into a devastatingly beautiful work of art. She must've been thinking of their talk in the apartment when she drew this picture because he's recognize that dilapidated graffiti covered wall behind him in a second.

On the next page, there's another portrait drawing, however this one was colored with colored pencils. The sparkling emerald eyes he loved so much held golden flecks instead of Jade and the hair color was a rich delicate pink rather than Mal's light shade of purple. Aside from those two differences, Ben couldn't come up with a solid reason Mal would change her beautiful purple tresses for pretty pink locks-even if she would look totally stunning as usual.

"Hey Evie?"

"Mhmm hmmm?" She responded, still lost in thought from what Ben could tell.

"I thought Mal hated the color pink. Why did she draw herself with pink hair? I mean she looks cute but like her with blonde hair...I love it purple."

Out of nowhere, a slender set of fingers ripped the sketch book right out of his hands. His stunned hazel eyes rose to see a guarded expression on Evie's face as she snapped the sketchbook shut with a loud thumping noise.

"You know the rules, Ben. No one looks at Mal's sketchbook without permission. Even if it's lying there open for the whole world to see." Evie's voice held a steeled and bitter edge to it as she placed the closed sketchbook on the side table next to Mal's bed.

Her heels clacked on the floor in almost a threatening manner. He held up his hands in surrender, his eyes still staring longingly at the sketchbook now residing on top of Mal's school textbooks.

"Is everything alright, Evie? Is Mal still struggling to fit in?"

"Mal's fine. She's adapting well. As for the pink hair, she's never hated the color pink. She just prefers purples and greens."

"So she's not going to dye it pink?"

"Not that I'm aware of. But you know Mal, drawing is her creative outlet like fashion is mine." Evie attempted to brush off his growing curiosity. "What she draws in her sketchbook stays between her and her sketchbook. And I don't think she'll appreciate knowing you stole more than a little glance at her private diary."

Evie squared her shoulders, her stance challenging him in a way that had his beast side riled up in anger. No one told Ben what he can or cannot do...especially some commoner. Ben could almost see himself with his nostrils flaring as he struggled to calm that possessive side of him down.

"I think I should go." Ben managed to state rather calmly given the rapidly growing animalistic side of himself.

"I think you should." Her cold tone pushed him over the edge.

In a flash, he had knocked her body to the side, his outstretched claws swiping the sketchbook from its place. Evie crumpled to the ground, her arms thrown out protectively to keep her from breaking her nose on the lush carpeted floor. Her head snapped up to watch Mal's abandones textbooks scatter to the floor. Evie looked up through her disheveled blue curls to see the blurry outline of Ben closing the door.

Shakily rising to her feet, Evie could feel her unladylike anger rising past the point of no return as her feet flew over to the bathroom door. Her balled fists pounded on the wooden obstacle and her curls went flying this way and that as she shrieked out his name.

"Ben!" Her tiny fists banged on the door. "So help me Hades if you do not open this door I will break it down myself!" Still, the door remained shut and locked. "Ben! I swear don't make me get Jay to unlock this door! I'm giving you to the count of three. One! Two! Thr-"

The soft unlocking of the door had Evie's anger dissipating as quickly as it came. Her chest still heaving, her knocking became more gentle.

"Ben?" Her quiet voice called out. "Ben? Can I come in?"

"No captions, on any of them." His muffled voice came through the door.

"Ben?"

The door opened and Evie was met face to face with a disheartening expression on the King's face. His eyes radiated sadness and his usually squared shoulders curled in on themselves in a sign of defeat.

"There are no captions on any of them. If Mal was struggling, she'd say something right?" Evie opened her mouth, only for Ben to cut her off. "I mean, I thought we were happy-I thought things were going so well. I mean, we finally got the paparazzi to lay off and the whole lies between us thing is in the past now so why wouldn't she tell me this? This is important, right?" His saddened hazel eyes watched Evie walk away. He lingered in the doorway as she dug through her purse and pulled out a blue object resembling a blue colored brick. She tapped a button then held the phone to her ear.

"M? It's time. I think you should tell him about Cherry Blossom."

Evie sucked in a sharp breath of air, wincing at the shouting coming in through the receiver of the phone. She closed her eyes as her shoulders drew into her body.

"I know, but Mal-you can't do this. You promised no more secrets." She whispered into the phone.

Ben swallowed sharply, walking over to the table. He delicately set the sketchbook next to the paper Evie had been working on, ignoring the two names on the list. Obviously Mal was hiding something and it had something to do with Evie hesitating earlier with the list.

"I know, but Mal-"

"Let me talk to her." Ben's strong voice demanded softly. Evie's doe brown eyes opened, only to see his outstretched hand waiting impatiently for the small device. Evie opened her mouth, only to close it abruptly. She lowered the phone from her ear then placed it into his hand.

He wasted no time bringing the device to his ear. He inhaled deeply and his eyes closed as he pictured her shouting in his mother's library.

"My Purplette...before you try to wiggle out of this. Please met me in your room. I know you are in my mother's library but we need to talk. Thank you." He taps the red button on the phone without looking then handed the phone back to Evie. He opened his eyes and a look of determination crossed his face. "I'm not going to make you talk, since this is clearly important to all of you so I will wait to hear it from Mal herself." He walked over to Mal's bed and sat himself right down on top of her sheets. He swung his legs up and placed his hands behind his head. He closed his eyes and allowed his mind a chance to process what just happened.

Evie stood there like a statue, her eyes glued to the phone in her hands. Biting her lip, she slipped her phone back into her purse then sat down at the wooden table. She picked up her pencil and willed her mind to focus on something-anything other than the huge argument that was going to take place behind her once Mal came storming into the room.

Sure enough, not a moment too soon and ten minutes after Ben had hung up the phone, a cold authoritative presence entered the room. Turning her head over her shoulder, Evie's cool calculated stare landed on Mal.

The purple haired girl seethed with rage on the inside, her emerald eyes sparkling and crackling like a roaring fire beneath her calm exterior. Her silent footfalls stomped the ground with each and every step she took. She slammed her book-bag on the table, causing Evie to jump and Ben's eyes to open at the loud banging noise.

Jay and Carlos sauntered into the room. Jay's Cheshire grin held a sort of practiced manic twinge whereas Carlos studied the carpeted floor with sudden interest. Jay had his arms crossed over his chest and his muscles rippled and bulged with each step he took closer and closer to Ben. Carlos eagerly sat down in the chair next to Evie, taking her fragile hand in his calloused one and squeezing for support.

Evie offered him a tiny smile, however the fear in her eyes matched the younger boy's. All three villain kids were wary to be part of this discussion and the tense atmosphere showed it.

Ben remained calmly on the bed, his eyes glued to Mal's every move.

"I take it this is a family discussion." The King stated calmly as his eyes finally shifted from Mal to Jay, and then to Carlos and Evie.

"It's a discussion about family...yes." Mal reworded his sentence, allowing his calm facade to slip into a mask of genuine concern and confusion.

"Leave it to good ol' Cherry Blossom to cause a scene even when she's not here." Jay smirked wider, if possible.

"Mal, we thought-" Carlos cut himself off when Mal's fiery eyes flickered from Ben to the youngest villain descendant.

"Well you both thought wrong." She smiled, though her grin twisted Carlos and Jay and Evie's stomachs with its hidden meaning. She clapped her hands together, bringing all four pairs of eyes to her. "Evie, Fashion Queen, Princess." Mal snarled, causing the bluenette to shrink into herself with fear and disappointment. "Why don't you start by telling me how this nosey Auradonian found out about Cherry Blossom?"

"Hey-" Ben interrupted before Evie even had a chance to open her mouth.

"I'm not talking to you. I want to hear it from Blueberry." Evie winced at the nickname yet straightened her shoulders and raised her head to look Mal straight in the eye.

"We were going over the list of names of villains to bring over to Auradon."

"The Isle to Auradon program. Fine. Go on." Mal snorted in annoyance. That one little program was giving both girls a headache.

"And we decided Dizzy and Gil are a priority."

"And..."

"And that's when Ben said he'd let me think of more names since I'm assuming he had another pressing engagement. So when he was getting ready to leave...he found your sketchbook open and decided to take a look...and he might've accidentally stumbled onto a self portrait of you with pink hair..."

"He did what?" She growled, her eyes narrowing in anger. Her hands began to tremble and she balled them into fists before green magic burnt a hole in the carpet.

"I'm sorry." Evie cried out in despair. "I didn't know you left it open. I pried it out of his hands but it was too late. And he kept asking me if you were having problems adjusting or problems with your relationship or struggling to adapt to Auradon and that when I called you. I'm so sorry." She covered her face with her hands and got onto her feet. She darted into the bathroom and shut the door.

"Mal-" Jay spoke up, his expression soft and his eyes wide with concern. Mal dismissed him with a wave of her hand.

"Leave her. You know how she gets when she cries." Mal said, rolling her eyes though a more gentle expression broke through her angered state of rage. "It's not her fault. I'll talk to her later." Mal picked up her sketchbook from the table. "He'll find out eventually." She inhaled deeply before making her way over to Ben.

The King sat up on the bed, his hands reaching out for the sketchbook. Mal flipped a couple pages then turned the book upside down to show him one of her more personal and private (and favorite) sketches.

On the left side of the paper was undoubtedly Mal. Her gorgeous unmistakable purple curls, the mischief in her emerald eyes, the curve of her nose, the wide hauntingly breathtaking smile he adored so much. It was all captured on the left side of the piece of paper. And in color too.

On the right side of the paper resided an identical vision of Mal. Only instead of a dark purple, a deeper shade of pink framed rosy cheeks and a more gentle smile. The same green eyes with flecks of gold stared back at him and a rich plum purple headband held her longer pink curls away from her face. There was no mistaking their facial features; both were the same except for the variation in the eye color and the different colored hair.

"I don't understand." He mumbled softly, his eyes tracing the similarities between the two portraits.

"I know. But you will." Mal sighed before sitting down on the edge of the bed. "This is me." She pointed to the purple haired girl. Her fingers then moved to trace the pink haired girl. "This is my identical twin sister...Amy." He released a soft gasp in response, his eyes widening at the new information. "We call her Cherry Blossom because of her hair color and because she's a delicate flower that doesn't deserve to live with the horrors of the Isle. She resembles Dizzy a little bit. That's why I think Evie enjoyed her company so much."

Ben's hazel eyes shifted from the sketchbook to Mal's face. Her green eyes no longer glowed like green burning embers. Instead, her eyes held a sadness and a longing to them that looked out of place on her face. Her grin softened into a gentle smile and her fingers traced the curve of her twin sister's nose.

"She's a true mix between Auradonian and Isle. She truly is a diamond in the rough." Mal laughed sadly, her eyes slowly glazing over the more she remembered her life on the Isle. "She's smart, and cunning, and manipulative, but she never wanted to be evil like our mother...like I did. She should've been the one to come here instead. She'd be less of a headache than I am."

"That's debatable." Jay snickered, his coldness morphing into genuine happiness. He, too, was obviously missing his pink Cherry Blossom. "She's a little pink spitfire when she's angry. But once she sees blood..." Jay gave a low whistle. "Boy, does she get trigger happy." Ben looked over to Jay, noticing the faraway gleam in his eyes. The thief suddenly seemed to snap out of the past, only to smile smugly at the King. "Well bro, Mal is right. Cherry Blossom is a mix of Isle and Auradon. Not that different from Evie if you think about it." He mused, more to himself as his eyes droppd to the floor and he actually appeared like he was thinking it over. He shook his head then returned his eyes to the King once more. "Anyway, Amy's wicked...er...nature-" Carlos snorted, resulting in a glare at him from the older thief. "It sneaks out when she sees blood. When Gaston Jr attacked Henry, I swore Amy nearly cracked his skull. She gets eager for a good fight...and that's dangerous. To you Auradonians anyway." Jay smirked with a mixture of pride and concern for his third little sister-like figure.

"And don't even think my sister is all strawberries and cream. Audrey needs to watch her step with Cherry Blossom, Benny-Boo she's not going to tolerate Audrey. I already know that." Carlos nodded his head vigorously at Mal's words.

"Her snobby attitude may get Amy to burn her. Literally." Jay snickered again.

"Amy's an arsonist. She loves playing with fire. She always has her lighter on her." Carlos smiled fondly at the memories of Amy and him together.

"She doesn't smoke." Jay added, winking at Mal. Ben turned his head to Mal, his confused expression causing her to tilt her head as she tried to figure out the reason for his confusion.

"Who are Henry and Gaston the Second?"

"Henry is Amy's boyfriend and my half-brother." All four pairs of eyes snapped towards the bathroom. Evie stood against the doorway, her arms securely crossed over her chest as if she was holding herself together. Ben slowly moved his eyes from Evie to Mal, accusation clear in his voice.

"Another lie?" He whispered, disappointed in this shocking revelation. "You said you were an only child. You said, there wasn't dating on the Isle." With each sentence, his voice grew louder and the fire burning in his eyes grew brighter. "But apparently, your sister..." He spat out in disbelief. "Your sister Amy has a _boyfriend_." His hands clenched into fists by his sides, his hazel eyes burned with anger. "And Harry Hook, out of all people on that God-forsaken Island, looked at you like how Carlos looks at chocolate and you thought you could hide this from me forever?"

Mal opened her mouth, only for nothing to come out. Her lips struggled to form the words she no doubt had to explain herself, however one look at Ben's angered and disappointed face had her closing her mouth and drawing her shoulders inward like she could hide from his accusatory stare. Jay fiddled with the starps of his leather gloves while Evie fixed her eyes on the lush carpeted floor. After a few seconds of silence, Carlos was the only one brave enough to answer the King of Auradon.

"Ben..." He started off quietly, his voice wavering with nerves and a hint of fear. "...on the Isle...showing any kind of affection for anyone...or anything can be extremely dangerous. Especially for the most notorious villains." He inhaled sharply before continuing, his eyes calculating as he attempted to find the right words to phrase his thoughts. "Everything can be seen as a weakness...because forming any sort of attachment means you _care_ about it. We had to be extremely cautious with forming our alliances, should someone find out just how deep our feelings for each other run. If we got caught even staring at each other for a second too long...we would be branded traitors to the Isle...to villains. We would be even bigger disappointments to our parents. We wouldn't be 'evil' enough to be allowed to share the family name...the legacy of our parents. Mal and Amy and Jay were strong fighters so people generally left them alone but for E and me..."

"After being in Auradon, we realized what weaknesses were considered on the Isle is just casual flirting here." Evie stepped in, directing the conversation away from Carlos and their awful upbringing on the Isle of the Lost. "Affection draws enemies. Shows you're not strong enough to fight on your own. You'd get hurt more than you would if you pretended to hate them. Behind closed doors, it didn't matter as long as you knew what you were getting into." She cleared her throat once she realized no one else was going to interject with their own opinions. "Anyway, back to Henry. His father is Prince Hans. And before you ask, Henry would make a great addition to Auradon. I'm not saying that because we're family; I'm saying that because he's actually not the worst company to keep around. His heart is in the right place even if sometimes his actions are a little...crazy." Her cold eyes were blank and held no emotion. "Gil's older brothers are all named Gaston. And Gil is the only one from that family that deserves to be here." Jay looks up startled as if struck by lightning.

"Carlos what about the Anti-Heroes Club? Why not just bring that group here? Same could be said about your cousin Diego. My cousin Jade...we can try with her too."

"Yeah. But Amy's good...she was always too good for the Isle." Carlos mumbled sadly, running a hand through his messy bi-colored hair.

"Then it's settled."

"What's settled?" Mal suddenly snapped herself back into the present.

"Amy. Your sister. She'll be the first name on the list for the new transfers. Along with Dizzy and Gil of course. And then after that we can start transferring over anybody in the Anti-Heroes Club."

"Ben...are you serious?" Her hopeful expression melted his heart and he found himself wishing to keep that expression on her face forever. With her green eyes warm and bright and alive with a fire that wasn't angry or malicious or spiteful.

"I want you to be happy. And I'd hate to be the cause for your unhappiness." Ben was unprepared when Mal launched herself on him, tackling him against the headboard and wrapping her arms around his neck in a warm and surprising hug.

"You are the best. You know that?" She mumbled into the side of his neck. His heart skipped a beat and he found a heat flooding into his cheeks. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."


End file.
